Neato Burrito to make leap to Carlisle

CARLISLE — A well-known restaurant throughout Cumberland County will soon enter the revolving door that is The Point at Carlisle Plaza, with hopes of seeing success where others have failed.

Neato Burrito co-owner Shayne Edmunds, who worked at The Point while living in Carlisle years ago, believes, as many others have, that the space provides all of the appeals one would need to own and run a successful shop.

The restaurant hopes to open its doors in about two months.

“People like easy access to parking and lots of it, and that’s certainly offered at the Point,” he said. “It’s right off of Interstate 81, there’s great visibility and there are other people in the area and restaurants, so we’re confident about it.”

Edmunds’ resume can back up such confidence.

The first Neato Burrito opened in Harrisburg in 1996. That particular store recently closed, yet from its success, six others sprung up in New Cumberland, Lemoyne, Lancaster, another in Harrisburg and two locations in the Mechanicsburg area.

The Carlisle store will mark the seventh restaurant.

“Neato Burrito is well known in Carlisle. I know of businesses that will order their food for the entire office and drive to the closest Neato Burrito location — so it is popular,” said Michelle Crowley, president of the Greater Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce.

The space to which Neato Burrito will move was formerly leased by Tanya Farrisi and her daughter, Heather Farrisi, who opened Not-Joe’s Southwest Grille in November 2014. However, Not Joe’s abruptly shut down in May, with a sign on the door indicating that staffing issues forced the restaurant to close indefinitely.

The abrupt departure left more than just open space for the Edmunds. It also left the perfect skeleton for a mission-style burrito shop.

“The previous tenant did a really nice job with the space, it’s basically a functional burrito shop,” Edmunds said. “Our equipment needs are different; we’ll be changing the kitchen around quite a bit. We’re a little rougher around the edges, we’re a little funkier, but retain a lot of what’s there because it was done so nice.”

One of the major changes planned is to “blow up” the street-side façade, which now sports a glass door between two windows, to create a top-to-bottom glass front. Edmunds’ focus will be on building upon the outer entrance and capitalizing on customers shopping at Lowe’s, as opposed to attracting customers within the mall through the inside-entrance.

“While we will retain the interior entrance to the space, we know just from Not Joe’s experience that most of the people are coming in from the front, and that’s why we want to make the front street entrance more appealing,” Edmunds said.

With a Chipotle coming soon to the Carlisle Commons in Carlisle near Walmart, and La Taqueria Laurita having opened in the downtown area, Mexican-style food is entrenching itself in Carlisle as a new favorite for residents.

“I think that the stimulus for Neato Burrito moving to Carlisle is, they have a nice, renovated space that they might not have to do much with to make it what they need to be successful,” Crowley said. “They will do well. They understand market trends and they know where they are getting their market share (buyers) from — and I am sure that a significant percentage is coming from Carlisle.”

Harrisburg’s ‘Neato’ Restaurant

Neato Burrito in Harrisburg is a small chain, but it stays loyal to its local roots. For twenty years, Neato has been known for its mission-style burritos, which are larger than regular burritos – both in terms of size and in how much food is stuffed inside. Neato is responsible for bringing this type of burrito to Central Pennsylvania in 1995. Shayne Edmunds, the founder and president, says that they “were the first and only place in the area for a long time (at least 10 years).”

Edmunds keeps the business in the family. His wife, Grace, is his business partner and is in charge of accounting and human resources; Jon Rohrer is a friend and business partner who is the operations manager.

Staying locally-operated improves the quality of the restaurant. Edmunds designed the menu and recipes. The salsas are made from scratch, the ingredients are whole-food, and the vegetables are fresh. Neato is even largely gluten-free, with a gluten-free tortilla option in the works. Burritos are made in front of the customers with steamed or baked ingredients.

Perhaps the most popular menu item is the Cowboy Crunch. The Cowboy, Edmunds describes, is made up of “slow-cooked Cajun chicken.” The barbecue rice is made with sugar and molasses barbecue sauce and the refried beans are low-sodium and lard-free. No preservatives are used in the drizzled homemade Ranch sauce or crushed nacho chips. In fact, Edmunds points out, almost every menu item is preservative-free.

With two homemade house salsas, there are options for both picky or adventurous eaters. For a tame taste, guests can try the mild Mexican Pico de Gallo, while the spicy Salsa Verde is for a walk on the wild side. Although these are the house salsas, there are additional options for each day of the week. For example,Monday’s special salsa “IPO” is a combination of sweet roasted tomatoes and smoky chipotle peppers. While Thursdays feature “drexel,” which includes peppers, honey, and cilantro.

Some innovative burrito items are in the works at Neato. Neato Burrito is excited to be the first burrito place in the area (possibly the country) to be offering a 12″ gluten free tortilla made from tapioca flour. Beyond being gluten free, it’s a very tasty tortilla. Some of our staff who aren’t gluten sensitive are choosing this tortilla for their own burritos just based on the taste.

Neato Burrito has been serving Central Pennsylvania healthy overstuffed and flavorful Mission Style Burritos for two decades. With a focus on cooking from scratch and using preservative free and whole food ingredients, it’s a solid departure from the fried and salt laden fast food wasteland.

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